I can't sleep as today is the day that marks the end of one 6.5 year chapter and the beginning of the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

The past 2 months plus have been hectic with the transition away from my day job with finalizing projects, training my replacement and all the other things one does when leaving a job gruntled. Don't get me wrong, I have my complaints just as everyone does about their job, but I've always tried to do the right thing. My karma is better for it.

It has put me behind on this site and other projects, but I feel like it is a situation of one step back to take two steps forward. I have so many ideas and plans for this site, I can't wait for today to end, so I can get to it. OK… I’ll actually start on Monday, but you know what I mean.

You've probably seem some of the ideas starting to come already, as I couldn't help myself. I've rearranged some of the forum boards and even added a new columnist board. Did you catch that one yet? Yes we not only have old columnists coming back with new articles, but also a new regular columnist on the way. We also have many friends of EH-Net who will be popping in as guest writers to add more content. Too many ideas to mention here, but the basic principles are:

1. Content is king2. EH-Net will remain free and freely available

I’m already running behind on articles submitted to me for editing/posting. My apologies to our readers and the writers waiting on me, but here's a hint on some soon-to-be-released “stuff”... Reviews of Splunk, SpiceWorks v3, IronKey, Proof of Concept article and vid from Dan Hoffman, the return of Craig Heffner and Justin Peltier, and continuing great stuff from Chris and Brian. As for the Skillz Hacking Challenges, Ed promises the answers to It Happened One Friday. He is not only incredibly in demand, but this challenge is very personal to him as you’ll see in his answers. So we’ll be patient. His fu is always worth the wait. I hope I’m not jumping the gun, but we’ll have at least 2 more challenges this year. Scooby Doo is on deck as well as Ed’s annual Christmas Challenge. All great stuff to push us through 2008 and into an awesome 2009!

So here I am standing on the edge looking into the abyss. I'm scared sh!tless yet more excited than at any other point in my professional career. Of course there really is no abyss, but then it wouldn't be as dramatic. It's not even that much of a risk, because it is a highly calculated risk. With the unbelievable support of my wife, I have the opportunity to avoid that conversation many have 30 years from now wondering what if. For that I will be eternally grateful. And if we fail, then so be it. I’ll be sending all of you my resume. There are worse problems in the world.

What started as a small idea and side project has now ballooned into the catalyst for making a dream come true. I plan on bringing all of you along for the ride. I hope you’re with me.

And for more borrowed quotes (How about a little impromptu contest... from where are the following quotes):

To my colleagues I leave behind, "So long and thanks for all the fish."

To all of you, "Onwards and upwards."

To my wife, "You complete me."

And away we go,Don

PS - Title quote from Hal Holbrook's character, Lou Mannheim, in the movie Wall Street. "Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss."

Congrats on your new adventure! At least you can say you no longer work for the "man" now. This forum and the con have really taken off due to your hard work and it looks like things will only get better